What is the definition of an open position?

An open position is a trade that has been established but has not yet been closed out with an opposing trade.

If your limit is 2 contracts, you could buy 2 gold contracts (this is called ‘going long’) with a view to selling them later for a profit. 

If you wanted to establish another position in a different market, you would need to close out (by selling) one or both of your gold contacts before you could do so.In futures trading, you can establish an open position by selling a contract, with a view to buying it back (closing out the position) at a later time. This is called ‘going short'. You would do this if you think the price of a commodity was going down and you wanted to profit from its price decline.

Having a short position is also considered as having an open position.So, you could be long one gold contract and short one oil contract, and this would be considered having 2 open positions.